Instructor

Testimony from From Ida Wells' History of the Riots:"Mr. Buchanan says: He did not see a single soldier, excepting Col. Tripp, do anything to protect the Negroes. He formed a hollow square and made the first arrest of about 200, composed of women and men. He also took a rope from the neck of a Negro whom the mob had attempted to bang. Mr. Buchanan saw them beat men down with revolvers and clubs; white men knock Negro women down and then the white women would finish by beating them to death or nearly so. Every Negro man that he saw get out of Black Valley alive, the soldiers would march them to the police station, badly beaten though they were, and scarcely able to walk, with their hands raised in front of them and afraid to turn their heads. The mob threw bricks at their heads and bodies, because the soldiers had their bayonets pointed at either side of them. They did the women the same way, excepting their hands were not raised in front of them. They were dodging around the soldiers to keep the mob from hitting them with bricks, stones and sticks. Their clothing was badly torn. A man who worked for the Hill Thomas Lime &amp; Cement Co. on 6th and Walnut streets, after the building had caught fire and was surrounded by the mob, called the manager up and said, "The whole place is on fire, and if I stay it is death and if I leave it is death. I am going to stay. Good-bye." Mr. Buchanan escaped death by hiding in the Southern Illinois National Bank where he was employed as a messenger. C. Reeb, president of the bank, procured an automobile and took Mr. Buchanan and family, to St. Louis."

During the fires, a Black man trapped in a burning building at 6th & Walnut and called his employer. His final words: "The whole place is on fire, and if I stay it is death and if I leave it is death. I am going to stay. Good-bye"

PBS Description of the riots through the lens of M

More Info

KTEC's History of the East St. Louis Riot

Video

At this precise location on July 2, 1917, an African American man who worked for the Hill Thomas Lime & Cement Co. on 6th and Walnut streets gave his final words to his employer as a white mob burned the building to the ground. That employer did not identify the name of the man who died but one of the witnesses to the riot, a Mr. Buchanan, related the story and the details of his own escape during the official investigation. Buchanan's testimony also reveals that soldiers did assist him and his white employer as they fled the mob but the investigation also concluded that police and guardsmen were culpable for allowing the riot to claim so many lives. 

A voice from a victim of the East St. Louis Race Riot: July 2, 1917

This trail includes historic homes, buildings, landmarks, monuments, and museums related to the African American experience in St. Louis. Also includes the sites of landmark decisions, American icons, and local black institutions.

Maya Angelou was born in April&nbsp;1928 in St. Louis, and her first years were spent in this quaint house in the heart of the city. Her parents had a very difficult marriage made more difficult by poverty and Maya and her brother were placed alone on a train to live with their paternal grandmother in Arkansas. After four years, she returned to St. Louis to live with her mother.&nbsp; As a very young girl, Angelou was sexually abused and raped by her mother's boyfriend. This man was eventually murdered after spending only one day in jail after being convicted for his actions against young May. In response to this trauma, and believing that she killed her abuser by speaking his name. Angelou did not speak for five years. Angelou enjoyed little stability as a young woman and moved back and forth between the homes of her paternal grandmother and her biological mother several times before graduating from a manual labor training school.&nbsp; During her early career, she was a dancer who studied a variety of styles including traditional African dances in New York. Given her talent an ambition, Angelou toured Europe as a dancer before returning to New York where she joined the Harlem Writing Guild. This group placed Angelou alongside some of the most notable Black writers of the era such as John Henrik Clarke and Rosa Guy. After hearing Martin Luther King Jr. speak, Angelou began to use her skills in the organization that supported King's efforts, including the Cabaret for Freedom. She would later help Malcolm X create the Organization of Afro-American Unity. After both Malcolm X and King were assassinated, Angelou went through a period of great pain and suffered from depression. Angelou channeled this pain in her first autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" which had a profound effect&nbsp;upon readers and helped white middle-class Americans understand the perspective of impoverished people and people of color.&nbsp; Angelou's diverse career included acting, directing, and writing several books of essays, children's books, and autobiographies. She worked on behalf of many campaigns for civil rights for many different groups through the 20th and 21st centuries. She also was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Angelou died in 2014 at the age of 86.&nbsp;

The modest house is now an official St. Louis landmark owing to its status as the first home of Maya Angelou. Angelou was born in 1928 and would become one of the most influential authors and poets of the 20th century. Among her most famous work is her memoir "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings." Angelou only lived in this home for the first three years of her life, but the city and local residents proudly claim their shared heritage as the birthplace of Maya Angelou owing to the poet's influence upon the modern Civil Rights Movement and her work with leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Angelou's timeless words capture the historic Black experience and her achievements have cemented her legacy in both African American History and American history in general. Angelou was a Pulitzer Prize-nominated poet and author and a champion of civil rights for women and minorities. This house, located at 3130 Hickory St. in St. Louis, saw the very beginning of a life of influence. 

Maya Angelou's Childhood Home, St Louis

The creation of the St. Louis Stars came out of the St. Louis Giants franchise organized&nbsp;by Charlie Mills in 1909.1 After Mills sold&nbsp;the franchise to Dick Kemp and Dr. Sam Sheppard in 1920, the name was changed to the St. Louis Stars.2 This renamed team needed a new home field to replace the Giants Park of previous seasons. The land for the new field was immediately purchased and construction began on Stars Park in 1922 making it one of the few ballparks built solely for a Negro League team.3 &nbsp;The Park was finished mid-season in 1922 and quickly became famous for its home run advantage.4&nbsp;&nbsp; The St. Louis baseball&nbsp;franchise that led to the creation of the Stars has had many recreations since the 1920s; however, Stars Park was built for the original St. Louis Stars team of 1922 through 1931. According to&nbsp;The&nbsp;Biographical Encyclopedia of Negro Baseball Leagues, the Stars finished their first year at an even .500 for the season.5&nbsp;The team experienced its only losing season in 1923.6&nbsp;However, the Stars went on to win "three pennants in 1928, 1930, and 1931, winning playoffs the first two seasons against the Chicago American Giants and the Detroit Stars."7 &nbsp;Although the Stars had a rough start, the 1928 championship series gave the team the turn around it needed. The Stars "came from being down two games to none to win the series five games to four, with Willie Wells hitting six home runs in the last five series games played in St. Louis."8 This victory in part resulted from Stars Park's home run advantage. This hitter-friendly field turned a combined 32 runs and one home run in Chicago to 76 runs and 14 home runs in St. Louis. 9&nbsp; The original St. Louis Stars had three players who were later inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame: Cool Papa Bell (1974), Willie Wells (1997), and Mule Suttles (2006). James Thomas Bell, also known as Cool Papa Bell,&nbsp;was a center fielder for the Stars from 1922 until 1931.10 According to the Baseball Hall of Fame,&nbsp;"He was a member of three of the greatest Negro league teams in history, winning three championships each with the Stars, the Pittsburgh Crawfords, and the Homestead Grays."11 "Bell was a switch hitter and contact hitter, with great bat control, bunting ability, and speed."12&nbsp; Willie James Wells primarily played shortstop for the Stars from 1924 until 1931.13&nbsp; Wells established his baseball career in the United States, Canada, Cuba, and Mexico where he earned the nickname El Diablo.14 He was also selected to play in all-star games eight times and went on to mentor younger players including Jackie Robinson and Monte Irvin.15&nbsp; Mule Suttles played first baseman for the Stars from 1926 until 1930, but he is most recognized for his time with the Newark Eagles.16&nbsp;&nbsp;"The slugging first baseman and outfielder had a playing career that lasted the entire Golden Era of Negro leagues baseball, from 1921 to 1944."17&nbsp;

Stars Park, also known as Compton Park, was home to the Negro League baseball team the St. Louis Stars from May 20, 1923 until 1931. Located between Compton, Laclede, and Market Streets, the park had a capacity of 16,000 and cost an estimated $27,000 to complete. The park's best-known feature was its left field advantage. At the time, a trolley barn stood north of Market Street about 250 feet from home plate. Any ball that hit the top of the barn was considered a home run, making Stars Park one of the best hitter parks in the National Negro League. When the St. Louis Stars disbanded during the 1931 season, the park was sold for $100,000 and turned into a playground. Today, the lot of the once great home run park is a Harris-Stowe State University baseball field. 

Stars Park

In recent years, the museum's programs and exhibits have focused on Roswell Field, son of the children's author and an attorney who brought into federal court the freedom suit of Dred Scott. The trial took place in 1847 and brought national attention to the issue of slavery and the growing division between states that continued to practice slavery. While the Scott family had several attorneys during their battle for freedom, without Roswell Field’s creative legal strategy, the Supreme Court would have likely not been compelled to hear the case. While Scott and his attorneys emphasized that he had lived in states where slavery was illegal and should, therefore, be freed from bondage, the Court declared that no enslaved person could be a U.S. citizen or seek legal protection provided to citizens through the nation's courts. The decision anger abolitionists as well as those who defended the rights of Northern states to prevent slaveholders from bringing enslaved people into their state as property in violation of their laws. The decision also widened the political gap between those who hoped to extend slavery into the West and those who sought to contain it to the Southern states. Roswell Field's father, Eugene Field, was an American writer best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. At the time this home became a museum, Eugene Field was the focus of exhibits and the museum collection centered on literature, toys, and other items related to childhood. Field's career spanned multiple genres, but he was best known as the author of many poems and short stories for children. His most famous poems are “Winken, Blinken, and Nod” and "The Duel", to name but a few. Field first started publishing poetry in 1879, when his poem "Christmas Treasures" appeared in A Little Book of Western Verse. He died in Chicago of a heart attack at the age of 45.The land on which Field House was built was once owned by Pierre Laclede, a man widely recognized as a leading founder of St. Louis. After he died, Laclede’s estate sold the property to Auguste Chouteau, Laclede’s associate. Following Chouteau’s death in 1820, the land was conveyed to the City of St. Louis with the provision that revenue from its use be spent for public schools. The Field House was one in a series of roadhouses within a fashionable residential neighborhood known as Walsh’s Row. Developed in the 1840s by Edward Walsh, it comprised twelve identical three-story row houses, including this last-surviving remnant of Walsh’s Row. In 1934, when Walsh's row was about to be torn down, Irving Dilliard wrote a spirited editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch decrying the destruction of Eugene Field's birthplace. Insurance agents Jesse P. Henry and Carl formed a committee to save the house, and the Board of Education took possession, preserving that single unit of Walsh's Row. Under Henry’s leadership, the building was restored and opened as a museum in December of 1936. The Board of Education maintained the house until 1968 when it transferred that function to the Landmarks Association of St. Louis, Inc., who oversaw the house until 1981 when the Eugene Field House Foundation took over. In March of 2007 the Eugene Field House was designated as a National Historic Landmark by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.

This museum is located in the birthplace and early childhood residence of Eugene Field *1850-1895), a popular author of children’s literature in the 19th century. Field's poems for children led to his rise in the literary world, and when he passed away at age 45, he was known as "the Children's Poet." In 1902, Mark Twain unveiled a plaque honoring Field that recognized this rowhouse as Field's birthplace. The remaining rowhomes was so well-known that In recent years, there has been greater emphasis on the life of Eugene's son Roswell Field, the attorney who formulated the legal strategy for Dred Scott's lawsuit for freedom before the Supreme Court. The house is a museum with a vast collection of historic toys, and it also serves as a place where visitors can learn about the Dred Scot case. The museum includes artifacts and items related to the era in which Roswell, Frances, and Eugene Field lived within its walls. The house features special exhibits, workshops, and conferences on civil rights, law and social justice. The museum was also offers displays related to Eugene Field's career and historic toys. Eugene Field came to be known as the “Children’s Poet” for his stories and poems, which include “Little Boy Blue” and “Wynken, Blynken and Nod.” The house was saved from demolition in 1934 due to its significance as the early boyhood home of Eugene Field, the “Children’s Poet” and Roswell Field’s son.

Field House Museum

Ozzie Smith is a Hall of Fame inductee who led the St. Louis Cardinals to multiple World Series appearances. Born December 26, 1954, in Mobile, Alabama, Smith attended Cal Poly San Louis Obispo (San Louis Obispo, CA). Given his success on the Cal Poly team, Smith was drafted twice in his collegiate career- first by the Detroit Tigers in the 7th round of the 1976 Amateur Draft, and again the following year by the San Diego Padres in the 14th round. Smith made his way through the minor league system quickly and he made his debut in the majors on April 7, 1978. He was 23 years old and only weighed 150 lbs. Despite standing nearly six feet tall-a slender appearance in a sport known for brawny sluggers. Ozzie was an effective batter but is best-known for his exceptional&nbsp;defensive play that led to&nbsp;thirteen&nbsp;Golden Gloves in his nineteen seasons. He would start every game by sprinting out to his position and performing his famous cartwheel-to-backflip in front of the giant MLB crowds. The Wizard spent just four seasons in San Diego- the team that drafted him. He was then sent to play with the St. Louis Cardinals where he spent the rest of his playing days. Ozzie had a career batting average of .262-an average mark. However, he was selected&nbsp;to appear in 15 All-Star game appearances and made the All-Star roster in 12 consecutive years from 1981-1992, then three more years in a row from 1994-1996. He was voted to start in 11 of those 15 games. He has won more Golden Glove awards than any other shortstop. He also received the National League Silver Slugger Award one time in his career, which came in 1987. He also received the 1985 NLCS MVP Award. Ozzie Smith was not only a great baseball player, but he was also recognized for being a good person.&nbsp;Throughout&nbsp;his career, he was the recipient of the 1989 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, the 1994 Branch Rickey Award, and the 1995 Roberto Clemente Award. The greatest accolade of his would come after his baseball career ended. In 2002, Osborne Earl Smith was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. He was a first ballot inductee and received a 91.7% voting percentage by the committee.

This bronze statue in front of Busch Stadium honors Ozzie Smith and stands alongside statues of other Cardinals players near the stadium's front entrance and team store. Ozzie Smith, also known as "The Wizard of Oz" or more simply "The Wizard", is widely-regarded by baseball historians and fans alike as one of the greatest shortstops in baseball history. He is best known for his skill as an infielder, blazing speed and athleticism, and performing a backflip from a standing position as he ran out to his position every game. Smith was a team captain and a World Series Champion with the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals. His memory in the city of St. Louis is such that his name can still be found on jerseys and his namesake bar and grill with his collection of Golden Gloves is a popular stop for tourists and locals alike. 

Ozzie Smith Bronze Statue

Dred Scott was born in Virginia around 1799 as property of
the Peter Blow family. He was illiterate and had spent his entire life as a
slave. Dred Scott moved to St. Louis with the Blows in 1830, but was soon sold
due to his master's financial problems. He was purchased by Dr. John Emerson
and accompanied him to Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, which had
prohibited slavery by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. During this period, Dred
Scott married Harriet Robinson, also a slave, and had two children, Lizzie and Eliza.
John Emerson later married Irene Sanford. In 1842, the Scott's returned with the
Emerson’s to St. Louis where John Emerson died the following year. It is
believed that Mrs. Emerson hired out Dred Scott, Harriet, and their children to
work for other families.&nbsp;On April 6th, 1846, Dred Scott and his wife Harriet filed
suit against Irene Emerson for their freedom. Scott had previously lived in
free territories, yet made no attempt to end his servitude. There are several
theories as why Dred Scott waited to petition for his freedom - the theme
between each being that Scott felt it was not detrimental to seek a life
elsewhere. In fact, his original owners, the Blows family, by most accounts
treated Scott fairly well, albeit he remained a slave. This could account for
Scott waiting to petition for his freedom. The exact reason for Scott
petitioning for his freedom is not known, although historians have considered
three possibilities: He may have been dissatisfied with being hired out by Mrs.
Emerson; Mrs. Emerson might have been planning to sell him which would have
meant a great chance of a rough life working tirelessly under a brutally-strict
slave owner; or he may have offered to buy his own freedom and been refused by
Mrs. Emerson. It is known, however, that the suit was not brought for the
political reason of abolition of slavery. 

It is thought that friends in St. Louis who opposed slavery encouraged
Scott to sue for his freedom on the grounds that he had once lived in a free
territory. In the past, Missouri courts supported the doctrine of "once
free, always free”, and for this reason many in the North, in addition to their
collective inclination to support abolition, felt that Dred Scott could win his
case. The case would encompass eleven years from its birth on April 6th, 1846
to a resolution on March 6, 1857. 

As he was illiterate, Dred Scott needed help with his suit.
John Anderson, the Scott's minister, may have been influential in their
decision to sue and the Blow family, Dred's original owners, backed him
financially. Support of those around them helped the Scott’s through this
trying time as the case would encompass eleven years from its birth on April
6th, 1846 to a resolution on March 6, 1857. A chilling reminder of such
unimaginable difficulties during this period can be noted within the body
language of Harriet and Dred Scott in their dedication statue. 

In 1850, the state court finally declared Scott free.
However, Scott's wages had been withheld pending the resolution of his case,
and during that time Mrs. Emerson remarried and left her brother, John Sanford,
to deal with her affairs. Mr. Sanford, unwilling to pay the back wages owed to
Scott, appealed the decision to the Missouri Supreme Court. The court
overturned the lower court's decision and ruled in favor of Sanford. Scott then
filed another lawsuit in a federal circuit court claiming damages against
Sanford's brother for Sanford's alleged physical abuse against
him. The Missouri court&nbsp;ruled that Scott could not sue in federal court because he had
already been deemed a slave under Missouri law. Scott appealed to the U.S.
Supreme Court, which reviewed the case in 1856.&nbsp;

It is difficult to understand today, but under the law in
1846 whether or not the Scotts were entitled to their freedom was not as
important as the consideration of property rights. Slaves were considered
property rather than people, however, sweeping verification of this by a
Supreme Court decision had not yet taken place before this case. Therefore, the
Supreme Court’s verdict in Dred Scott vs. Stanford on March 6, 1857, decided
several imperative facts that had overwhelming implications across an already
divided society.&nbsp; On the south lawn of the Old Courthouse in St. Louis, the Dred
and Harriet Scott Statue Dedication depicts the pair as close, holding their
heads high, hands strongly and passionately intertwined,&nbsp;their eyes directed not only Arch-ward and across the Mississippi
River, but toward a horizon of freedom in which they believed enough to one day
finally see.&nbsp;

On April 6, 1846, a slave named Dred Scott and his wife, Harriet, sued for their freedom from their slave owner Irene Emerson in the St. Louis’ Old Courthouse.  The case itself spanned nine years, and at its conclusion saw the decision favor of Ms. Emerson by way of retaining the services of Dred and Harriet Scott. The Supreme Court decided the case in 1857; Chief Justice Roger B. Taney announced the decision in the case of Dred Scott v. Sanford. He stated that Americans of African ancestry were not eligible to be citizens, based on the historical claim that they "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." This meant that Americans of African descent, whether free or slave, were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court. Furthermore, The Court also made clear its intentions to uphold slavery in the United States by ruling that Congress lacked power to ban slavery. Finally, the Court declared that the rights of slave owners were constitutionally protected by the Fifth Amendment because slaves were categorized as property. As a result, the issue of slavery further divided the North from the South and thus expediting the start of the Civil War. It is therefore believe that this case is one of the most important ever to be tried in the United States. On the south lawn of the Old Courthouse in St. Louis, the Dred and Harriet Scott Statue depicts the pair as close, holding their heads high, hands held together for loving support. This was a trying time for the Scott's, a time which would test their character and resolve. 


Dred and Harriet Scott Statue 

The National Blues Museum aims to tell the story of how blues emerged from the slave plantations and evolved as former slaves traveled northwards, settling in St. Louis, Chicago, and other northern cities. The museum celebrates the music that would eventually be the basis for Jazz, Rock &amp; Roll, Funk, and R&amp;B, featuring interactive exhibits, photographs, guitars and some outfits worn by blues legends. It opened on April 2nd, 2016 and was designed by internationally-recognized museum design firm, Gallagher &amp; Associates. The museum also offers performances, lectures, film showings, and other events. William Christopher
(W. C.) Handy was said to be “The Father of the Blues”. Born on in 1873 in
Florence, Alabama, Handy grew up in a strict household where he was forbidden
to play any musical instruments, but secretly bought a guitar that he would practice
with. He could also play many others, including the piano and organ and was
particularly skilled with the trumpet. In 1892, he left Alabama to travel to
the Midwest where he would join various other music groups. Through 1900-02, he
worked as a teacher, and then the next year, Handy conducted his own orchestra
called The Knights of Pythia, in Mississippi up until 1921. During those years,
he would arrange harmonizing tunes, influenced by the music by the Mississippi
Delta and Memphis, Tennessee. He joined Harry Pace and they would form a music
company that would become the Handy and Pace Music Company. Handy’s music had a
melodic element to it, which can be heard in his “Memphis Blue’s”, a campaign
song that he wrote for elections in Tennessee that was the first example of
music to be written and published as sheet music. The origins
of blues can be traced back to the 19th Century in Northwestern
Mississippi where it was being sung by former slaves and would eventually
spread to the rest of the South and the rest of the U.S. The Blues music that
was performed would often accompany those who were traveling, such as doctors,
musicians, circuses, etc. that would go anywhere to be able to share their
music. There were also many different styles of blues music such as ballads,
folk music, gospel, and ragtime. The music had both melancholy and upbeat tunes,
for both the hard times and the pleasures of life. The crowds were often
segregated due to the Jim Crow Laws.&nbsp;

During the time, thousands of settlers would travel along the Mississippi
and Missouri rivers, that would become known as the “Gateway to the West”. By
1890, St. Louis was the 4th largest city in the U.S. as it became a
place where people could exchange new ideas and old traditions, especially in
regards to music. African Americans who were former slaves would be important
contributors to the development of blues, ragtime and jazz by combining their traditional music based with
the tunes they would hear in bands, parlors, and dance. Blues music
would continue to grow and evolve in St. Louis into the early 20th Century.
Jazz and swing would become popular in the 1930’s and 40’s. After World War II,
blues music became electric and would turn into what we now know as R&amp;B and
Rock and Roll, with musicians such as Chuck Berry and Tina Turner.&nbsp; 

&nbsp;

The National Blues Museum opened to the public in 2016 in what was once a downtown St. Louis department store for nearly a century. One of the goals of the museum is to educate those about music and its importance when speaking of America’s culture, race, and diversity. Blues is the foundation for nearly all music that became popular, such as jazz and rock and roll. The museum encourages even those who are not blues fans to visit in order to gain appreciation for the music. The Blues Museum holds various events, including live music, and visitors can sign up for a newsletter on the official website to find out more about them. 

National Blues Museum

From Swathmore College's Database of Non-Violent Action: "In 1947, The St. Louis chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a national group that aimed to practice the tactics of nonviolence against the oppressive forces of segregation, was formed.In 1948, St. Louis CORE chose the Stix, Baer &amp; Fuller Department Store as a target for a comprehensive non-violent desegregation campaign. CORE chose Stix for a number of reasons. First of all, the store layout was conducive to maximizing the exposure of the campaign. The store had a large, first floor lunch counter that fit 97 patrons and was visible to pedestrians passing by. Furthermore, the store was a focal point of downtown commerce and was frequently called the “Grand Leader.” Secondly, the overtly hypocritical policies of Stix provided a target for the letters, leaflets, and signs that CORE distributed as part of the campaign; Stix allowed Blacks to shop in the store, but would not serve Blacks at the lunch counter. Finally, Stix was owned by local St. Louisians who were seen as community leaders and thus more subject to the pressures of the community.At the same time as the initiation of the Stix campaign, CORE members tried to work with officials at other downtown businesses, including Famous-Barr and Scruggs, Vandervoort, Woolworth’s, and other dime stores. However, Stix remained the focal point of the campaign and due to the wide variety of nonviolent tactics used there, in many ways it served as a case study for CORE in terms of what was effective and what was not.CORE members began the Stix campaign by sending letters to Stix officials encouraging them to institute non-discriminatory policies. When these letters went unanswered, CORE members began distributing leaflets outside the store. The leaflets explained that African Americans were being denied service and pressed people to complain to the management. Sayings on the leaflets included, “All we ask for is fair play” and “You be the judge: Is it fair to refuse restaurant service to Negroes while accepting money from them in other departments?” CORE members also tailored their tactics to events that happened at the store, such as pamphlets specifically designed for attendees of an ecumenical association meeting that was held in Stix in November of 1948, so as to relate to a variety of different audiences.On January 31, 1949, when white CORE members went to the lunch counter and ordered hamburgers and pie, they proceeded to share the food with four Black members who had joined them at the counter. Management put up closed signs on the counter. CORE proceeded to have a few more small sit-ins in the days that followed. CORE orchestrated parallel tactics of maintaining a sit-in presence at the lunch counter, as well as sending letters to the Stix officials. Soon CORE began to hold weekly sit-ins that averaged twenty to thirty people. By April of 1949, CORE had as many as 57 people sitting in the cafeteria for the whole day. Rather than sitting next to each other, the demonstrators sat in every other seat to occupy more room. They placed signs in front of them that read ‘We are being refused service’ with explanatory pamphlets.The campaign began to draw media attention and several newspapers, including the St. Louis American, covered the events. Stix employees tried to counter the demonstration with a sit-in of their own so that the CORE members could not occupy the seats. However, this only stopped business, helping the CORE cause. Needless to say this move was quickly abandoned.CORE continued diversifying their tactics. On May 12, 1949, two members attempted to receive service while holding their infant children. As a result, the local paper printed a picture of the two mothers and their infants being turned away. Two African American war veterans requested service; when they were turned away they filed formal complaints with the management and other customers bought food for them.In the summer of 1949 students from the Association of Southern Churches arrived to aid the St. Louis CORE campaign. Ten of the white students would order food at the counter and then pass it to Black members. Meanwhile, CORE urged the African American community to boycott Stix Department Store all together. Many community groups supported CORE’s efforts by letting them explain their campaign to their members. On August 29, 1949, the NAACP recognized CORE’s efforts and subsequently passed a resolution advocating a citywide boycott of Stix, Baer &amp; Fuller.On July 28, 1949, CORE sent a letter to the Stix management saying that they would suspend the demonstrations to allow Stix time to change their policy and save face. CORE members also emphasized that most white customers had shown willingness to share the counter with Blacks. CORE’s withdrawal allowed them to regroup and focus on other surrounding businesses. However, leaders of CORE continued to send letters to the Stix management. On November 31, 1951, St. Louis CORE leaders Walter Hayes and Charles Oldham met with Stix executives. They discussed their successes with other stores in the area, but the Stix executives refused to change their policies.In April 1952, Charles Oldham, who was the acting president of CORE, composed “A Plan for Establishing Equal Restaurant Service in St. Louis Department Stores” and sent it to influential community leaders. The plan received plenty of positive feedback and fed the publicity of the campaign. It reached numerous members of the community as well as the inner circles of local businesses. Stix held their ground through 1953, but in 1954 the department store finally opened its counter to white and Black customers alike."

The St. Louis Chapter of CORE led sit-ins throughout the city between 1949 and 1951. The sit-ins that attempted to integrate the lunch counter at Stix, Baer, and Fuller were the largest of these protests. Continued 

Sit-ins at the Stix, Baer, and Fuller Department Store, 1949-54

It is not known when the modest two-story brick row house was built, but it was probably constructed sometime during or shortly after the Civil War, as the structure was already listed in an 1874 reference source. The neighborhood developed from common agricultural fields belonging to the French settlement of St. Louis. German immigrants in the 1850s occupied the region known as the "Old North Area" of St. Louis, and it soon attracted other immigrant populations including Irish, Italian, Polish and Jewish groups. It began to become a predominantly Black neighborhood around the years in the very early 20th Century in which Joplin lived there. Scott Joplin was born in 1868 near Marshall, Texas. The young musician exhibited talent from an early age. As a student at George R. Smith College in Sedalia, Missouri, a Black college established by the AME Church, he studied classical music and the liberal arts. Mastering both the formal structure of classical music and the free-flowing, improvisational expression of area folk musicians, he was able to produce and record the music he and other Black musicians were creating throughout the South. His talent, ambition and education enabled him to become the foremost composer of the new musical genre that became known as "ragtime." His first published ragtime work, "Original Rags," was released in Kansas City in 1899 and in the same year, the Stark Music Company of Sedalia published Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag." This composition ultimately sold over half-a-million copies by 1909, so the man who moved into the modest house on Morgan Street was already famous. Although he was but one of many composers perfecting the new syncopated sound, his ability to compose such popular music led to his becoming known as "The King of Ragtime." (It should be noted that Joplin referred to himself only as "The King of Ragtime Writers," a title that acknowledged that he was only one of many talented musicians.) In addition to his many popular ragtime tunes published by his own sheet music company, Joplin composed an opera, a musical, a symphony, and a piano concerto. Because of the deterioration of the surrounding Old North neighborhood in the 1970s, Jeff-Vander-Lou, Inc., an African American neighborhood development nonprofit corporation led by local housing activist Macler Shepard, purchased the property. The corporation sought both private and public funding for the restoration work, with the goal of converting the house into a museum, as the cornerstone for an inner-city cultural center. It was clear, however, by the early 1980s that the corporation would not be able to raise enough money to complete the project, and in 1983, it donated the property to the State of Missouri. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) assumed responsibility for completing the restoration and establishing an interpretive center. To the dismay of the African-American community that had supported the restoration, exhibits were installed at the Scott Joplin House that celebrated the composer and his music, but communicated little about the urban milieu that nourished his talents, the origins of African-American music or his legacy on modern composers. Local residents were excluded from exhibit programming, so such programming appealed overwhelmingly to white, middle-class music lovers. Around the turn of the 21st Century, a community-based history project, the Scott Joplin Heritage Project, was initiated. The project sought to empower citizens to make decisions about all aspects of the project by linking historical research and interpretation to neighborhood revitalization goals. Among the issues that faced the Scott Joplin Heritage Project was how best to deal with aspects of Joplin's legacy that still make many people, including those within the Black community, uncomfortable, including violent racial relations, prostitution (Joplin frequently performed in the city's red-light district) and venereal disease (Joplin died of complications from syphilis). With the historical and archaeological evidence from this project, a more comprehensive interpretation of the neighborhood and of Joplin’s tragedy may be necessary to paint a clearer picture of the man whose compositions changed the face of American music. On the death of Macler Shepard in 2005, he was remembered and honored in print for his contribution towards the preservation of the Scott Joplin House. According to one commentator, "One of Missouri’s historical jewels would have been lost if not for Mr. Shepard and Jeff-Vander-Lou, Inc."

The Scott Joplin House is one of the few remaining structures related to the life and career of Scott Joplin (1868-1917), one of America's most significant composers. The writer of such popular and enduring songs as "The Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Entertainer" (the latter prominently featured in the popular 1973 film, The Sting), Joplin lived in the house on Delmar Boulevard, then known as Morgan Street, with his wife Belle between 1900 and 1903. Designated both a National Historic Landmark and part of the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, America's bicentennial year, the house was saved from demolition largely through the efforts of the late local housing advocate Macler Shepard, on behalf of the African-American community of St. Louis. 



Scott Joplin House State Historic Site

The Griot
Museum of Black History and Culture opened in 1997, and was first named the Black
World History Wax Museum. The name of the museum was changed in 2007, to emphasize
its mission as the caretaker of the stories, culture, and history of African Americans.
Griot is a name for a West African historian or storyteller that collects,
shares, and preserves stories and traditions. The Griot Museum of Black History
and Culture is the second largest Black wax museum in the country. &nbsp; 
 
The Griot
Museum interprets stories and features life-size wax resemblances of African
Americans whose lives influenced the state, region, and country. Visitors have
the opportunity to learn about several historical African Americans such as:
Carter G. Woodson, Josephine Baker, Dred and Harriet Scott, Elizabeth Keckley,
William Wells Brown, James Milton Turner, Clark Terry, Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., the Rev. Earl. E. Nance Sr., Miles Davis, Madame C.J. Walker, York, Percy
Green, and many more. The Griot Museum also features a slave cabin that was
originally built on the Wright–Smith Plantation in Jonesburg, Missouri.
Visitors can also solve puzzles, view documentary videos, and explore a model of
ships that were used to transport African Americans to America during the
Transatlantic Slave Trade. 
 
This museum also celebrates the achievements of African-Americans. Visitors have
the opportunity to learn about John Berry Meacham, who avoided the law which forbade
the education of African Americans. He anchored a boat in the Mississippi River
and taught them how to read, write, etc. An entire section of the museum has
been dedicated to Madam C.J. Walker, and it exhibits the life she led. 
 
The museum hosts local and national traveling arts and humanities
exhibits. In order to increase their community outreach, they sponsor community
education projects, gallery discussions, and cultural celebrations. The museum
hosts traveling exhibits led by local and national artists as well. The museums’
goal is to create a community of lifelong learners who explore and embrace the African-American
heritage.

The Griot Museum of Black History and Culture opened in 1997, and was first named the Black World History Wax Museum. The name of the museum was changed in 2007 to emphasize its mission as the caretaker of the stories, culture, and history of African Americans. In order to increase their community outreach, the museum sponsors community education projects, gallery discussions, and cultural celebrations. The museum hosts traveling exhibits led by local and national artists as well. The museums’ goal is to create a community of lifelong learners who explore and embrace the African-American heritage. 

Griot Museum of Black HIstory and Culture 

The house that has been called, by more than one authority, "the birthplace of rock and roll" now stands vacant and somewhat dilapidated. But when Chuck Berry decided, in 1950, to move with his wife into the modest "three-room brick cottage with a bath and full basement" on Whittier Street in his native St. Louis, the move represented a big step up in status for him. Berry had been born and raised in "the Ville," a predominantly African-American section of the city, where many prominent middle-class Black professionals, like comedian Redd Foxx and singer Tina Turner, had also lived. But Berry's new house was in the "Greater Ville," a predominantly white and affluent section just north of&nbsp;the Ville. Berry and his wife were legally able to move there because the Supreme Court had, in 1948, pronounced racial housing covenants unconstitutional. If Berry wondered whether his white neighbors would accept him, he needn't have worried. In his memoirs, he fondly recalls a local family, the Dimottios, who, on the third day after the Berrys moved in, appeared at the backyard fence with a big pot of spaghetti to welcome the new arrivals.&nbsp; Small parapet houses such as Berry's were very popular in St. Louis neighborhoods between 1900 and 1920. (The house had been constructed by contractor William J. Moxey in 1910.) After purchasing the property for $4500 (with a $450 down payment),&nbsp;Berry installed a bedroom and half-bath in the basement so his family could live there, and rented out the first floor to others. In 1956, Berry added two rooms with concrete block walls at the rear of the structure. A concrete block porch with a metal railing spans most of the façade, and this is shaded by a metal awning (which includes&nbsp;a faded letter “B,” for Berry).&nbsp;As the NRHP nomination form points out, the house "retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association." Significantly, it was a year after he moved in, in 1951, that Berry purchased his first electric guitar, inspired not only by blues and country artists who had used the instrument, but by jazz musicians Charlie Christian and Carl Hogan, whom he idolized. He also purchased a second-hand reel-to-reel tape recorder on which to record the music and lyrics of the new songs that filled his mind. On New Year's Eve 1952, Berry joined a popular local group named Sir John's Trio at the Cosmopolitan Club in East St. Louis, Illinois, and was later asked to remain as their lead singer and guitarist. It was as part of this local band that Berry developed his legendary skills as a front man, eventually creating moves such as his famous "duck walk." It was also as part of this band that he began to appeal to a biracial audience. (His wife, a blues fan, was amused rather than impressed by the country-and-western elements in Berry's music that she heard during rehearsals at the house.) Finally, he adapted the humorous approach of Louis Jordan's "jump blues" to his own style, commenting wittily on aspects of everyday American life in his songs.&nbsp; The St. Louis Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, which now owns the property, began in 2017 to solicit private bids not only to restore the house but to create a cultural center and revitalize the neighborhood as a whole. The Chuck Berry Cultural District would ideally include&nbsp;a museum attached or adjacent to the house, including exhibition space, a café, gift shop and parking facilities. The district would be coordinated with the planned extension of the Metro Link mass transit and the future Fair Station. Also, as a condition of the project, developers must improve two local streets, including planting trees, fixing curbs and installing new streetlights. An ambitious agenda, but perfectly fitting as a way to&nbsp;honor the man who had so radically transformed popular music.&nbsp;

Rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry, born Charles Edward Anderson Berry purchased this modest house with his wife Themetta Suggs in 1950. The couple lived here for eight years, until 1958. During that time, Berry wrote and recorded many songs that have since become classics, including Maybelline, Roll Over Beethoven, You Can't Catch Me, Johnny B. Goode, School Day (Ring, Ring Goes the Bell), Rock & Roll Music, Carol, Run Rudolph Run, Sweet Little 16, Sweet Little Rock and Roller and Little Queenie. Among the artists whom he strongly influenced were The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and innumerable bands have covered his songs. In 2008, the Chuck Berry House was accepted in the National Register of Historic Places.  

The Chuck Berry House, St Louis 

Between 1910
and 1920, the Black population of St. Louis increased by an estimated sixty percent. Unfortunately,&nbsp;there were few&nbsp;medical facilities open to African
Americans. In response, local attorney Homer
G. Phillips led the campaign to fund new construction of a hospital
dedicated to serving the Black community in 1923. The campaign took nearly a decade before the city agreed to issue the bonds, and Phillips did not live to see the completion of the building that would bear his name.&nbsp;&nbsp;Homer G.&nbsp;Phillips was
murdered in 1931, a year before&nbsp;construction began. Two men were arrested, but both were&nbsp;released due to
lack of evidence and the case remains unsolved.&nbsp;

From 1937 to the 1950s, Homer G Phillips Hospital was the only medical facility for the African American community of St Louis. Even after area hospitals ended their formal and informal policies of exclusion,&nbsp;the&nbsp;&nbsp;hospital boasted the largest number of Black doctors and nurses in
the world.Training and
educational programs associated with Homer G Phillips Hospital included a nursing
school, x-ray technician and laboratory technician training and medical
recordkeeping.&nbsp;

With the&nbsp;end of
segregation came the gradual end of all-Black institutions throughout the nation. In 1955, Homer G Phillips Hospital began
admitting patients of all races, as did other area hospitals. City hospitals experienced sharp declines and many closed throughout the 1970s and 1980s.&nbsp;In 1979, the city decided to close this facility despite community protest.&nbsp;

In 2002, Homer
G Phillips Hospital was the focus of documentary film, “A Jewel in History, the
Story of Homer G Phillips Hospital” by Mukulla Godwin, a nurse and a filmmaker (Solomon).&nbsp; D J Wilson reports in the Riverfront Times
article “Pathology Report”, that in the film, Dr. John Gladney tells his
personal memory of the medical care for Blacks before Homer G Phillips Hospital
opened.&nbsp; Gladney’s mother died in the
basement of a white hospital, where men, women and children were all
hospitalized together in a dimly lit, dank and smelly open ward. &nbsp;

In 2003,
after renovations, the facility reopened as Homer G Phillips Dignity
House/Senior Living Community.

Named for local attorney Homer G Phillips, this building served the Black community of St. Louis during the era of segregation. In response to a dire need, Phillips led the campaign that led to city-issued bonds that funded the construction of the hospital. Construction began in 1932, and the facility opened in 1937. The hospital was closed in 1979 and the building sat empty for two decades. Today, it houses the Homer G Phillips Dignity House / Senior Living Community.

Homer G Phillips Hospital, 1937-1997

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Sumner High School in St. Louis, Missouri, who’s namesake
was Charles Sumner, the famous abolitionist senator who became famous for an
antislavery speech that lead to his being beaten on the senate floor by a pro
slavery senator, was opened at the beginning of the Reconstruction Era of
American history that began with the end of the Civil War.1 The high school was
the very first high school west of the Mississippi River established for African
American students, and it opened its doors in 1875 following the adoption of
the Constitution of 1865 in Missouri. The new Constitution, which ratified the
13th Amendment of the US Constitution in the state and was in effect
until 1875 when it was amended once again, mandated that all regional school
boards in Missouri support the education of Black students.2

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sumner
High School was originally located at 11th and Spruce Streets in St.
Louis, but it was moved to 15th and Walnuts streets in the 1880s
after parents of the students attending the school successfully lobbied to have
it relocated in order to avoid making their children walk past gallows and the
city morgue on their journey to and from school.3&nbsp;The school was moved once
again in the 1890s due to successful lobbying by the parents of children at the
school, except this time they wanted the location to be moved to avoid having
their children go to school in a neighborhood full of saloons and pool houses.3 Sumner
High School was finally moved to its current location in the building designed
by William B. Ittner on Cottage Street in 1908.4

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As the
public school systems began to desegregate in Missouri during the mid -950s,
many students opted to leave the school in order to attend the nearby
Soldan-Blewett High School, which was actually much closer for many students
who had previously been forced to travel further for school solely because of
their race.5 Today, Sumner High School is still functioning as a (fully
desegregated) St. Louis high school for over five hundred students in the
surrounding area, making it one of the oldest schools in the area that is still
operating in the form of an educational institution.

                  When Sumner High School opened in 1875 in St. Louis, Missouri, it was the first high school for African Americans anywhere west of the Mississippi River. Since then, the school has been moved twice, with the location it is housed in now being the location it was moved to in 1908. The school was established following the adoption of the Constitution of 1865 in Missouri, which required that regional school boards support the education of Black children in their districts. Even though the African American population grew steadily from the early 1860s to the 1920s, Sumner High School was the only high school for African Americans until 1927 when Vashon High School opened its doors. Today, Sumner High School is still functioning as a predominantly African American high school. 

Sumner High School

Scovel Richardson, a very accomplished attorney and later a US Court of International Trade Judge, was just 30 years old when he&nbsp;won a 1942 court case to keep him from being forced from his home in a white neighborhood by white groups that included Market Avenue Protective Association and St. Louis Real Estate Exchange. &nbsp; Richardson career included presidency of the Urban League of St. Louis in 1944 and&nbsp;serving as Dean of the Lincoln University Law School from 1944-1953. &nbsp;Richardson was then appointed as the first Black member of the US Board of Parole by President Eisenhower. &nbsp;Richard served on the Board of Parole from 1953 - 1957, functioning as chairman from 1954 - 1957. &nbsp;In 1957, Eisenhower appointed Richardson to the US Court of International Trade. &nbsp;Richardson remained on the bench until his death in 1982.

In 1942, Scovel Richardson, attorney and president of Urban League of St Louis, won a case that kept him from being forced out of his home in a white neighborhood.

Site of former Lincoln University Law School

The following excerpt from the National Park Service website provides background to the case. The full text is available by clicking the link below.&nbsp;"In 1930, J. D. Shelley, his wife, and their six children migrated to St. Louis from Mississippi to escape the pervasive racial oppression of the South. For a number of years they lived with relatives and then in rental properties. In looking to buy a home, they found that many buildings in St. Louis were covered by racially restrictive covenants by which the building owners agreed not to sell to anyone other than a Caucasian. The Shelleys directly challenged this discriminatory practice by purchasing such a building at 4600 Labadie Avenue from an owner who agreed not to enforce the racial covenant. Louis D. Kraemer, owner of another property on Labadie covered by restrictive covenants, sued in the St. Louis Circuit (State) Court to enforce the restrictive covenant and prevent the Shelleys from acquiring title to the building. The trial court ruled in the Shelleys' favor in November of 1945, but when Kraemer appealed, the Missouri Supreme Court, on December 9, 1946, reversed the trial court's decision and ordered that the racial covenant be enforced. The Shelleys then appealed to the United States Supreme Court. On May 3, 1948, the United States Supreme Court rendered its landmark decision in&nbsp;Shelley v. Kraemer, holding, by a vote of 6 to 0 (with three judges not sitting), that racially restrictive covenants cannot be enforced by courts since this would constitute state action denying due process of law in violation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Although the case did not outlaw covenants (only a state's enforcement of the practice), inShelley v. Kraemer&nbsp;the Supreme Court reinforced strongly the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of the laws, which includes rights to acquire, enjoy, own, and dispose of property.&nbsp;"

This home was once in a predominantly white neighborhood and part of the deed specified that it could only be occupied by white residents. J. D. Shelley purchased this home from an owner who agreed not to enforce this part of the deed, but area whites protested and attempted to force the Shelley family out of the neighborhood. Despite death threats, the family chose to remain and fight in the courts. The practice of attempting to legally prevent minorities from owning real property, known as a restrictive covenant, was common both before and after the landmark decision in Shelley v. Kraemer. 

The home is a private residence but is also a National Historic Landmark because it was connected to the landmark ruling declaring that racially restrictive covenants could not be enforced by American courts because they violated the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of law. 

Shelley House, Part of the Landmark 1948 Decision in Shelley v. Kraemer

According to the Booker T. Washington School registration as a Historic Place, the master architect was William B. Ittner, who designed a U-plan with 24 classrooms instead of the typical 20. It featured four additional classrooms in the back and an auditorium that fits 1,213, a remarkable addition for a school of this size to have its own auditorium. In 1934 the building was formerly recognized as a school for the Black population of St. Louis having been used previously for the white residents of the area up until the 20th century. To adhere to the "separate but equal" law, the city of St. Louis needed a vocational school for Black residents like the vocational school for white residents. Instead of integrating Hadley Vocational High School, the town refitted Franklin school as the new Booker T. Washington School. The school was founded by the city of St. Louis and named after the principles of educator and African American leader Booker T. Washington, who founded the Tuskegee Institute based on his philosophy. Focused on his philosophy of educating the community in industry and technical skills in preparation for work in labor and agricultural pursuits. This emphasis on skills-related training for Black americans so they could be assimilated, or "accommodated," in white society. The school focused less on a typical "liberal arts" education and more on a readying workers for the factory. Booker T. Washington's principles of education did not focus on classical education but instead focused on industrial education. Racial uplift through industrial education and readying Black Americans for a future in an industry that would give them the tools to move up economically in the United States. The Washington method to racial uplift was in contrast to the technique focused on by W.E.B DuBois, who wanted a classical education for Black students, like Sumner High School located in the Ville neighborhood, another historically Black public school in St. Louis.  St. Louis Public Schools resisted integration and instead created new rules and guidelines for vocational enrollment. The St. Louis Race Commission surveyed Hadley and Washington schools and found unequal education opportunities for students in SLPS in 1948. The Commission said has followed "as emphatically as words can convey, that you [The Board of Education] take prompt and adequate action to equalize at least the facilities and personnel in both colored and white vocational training schools." This unequal access to education created an inability for job placement and further advancement. But they were in accordance with Missouri State Statues that upheld segregation in school has state-mandated law. It was at the center of the integration debate happening in St. Louis before the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision made the decision for them.  In 1956 the school was closed after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision to desegregate schools across the county. The city of St. Louis moved students from both Hadley and Booker, pushing students to the new O'Fallon Technical High School. Hadley remained open. From 1957 to 1980, it was again Franklin Elementary School redesigned by Shakofsky Construction Company. Then became the remained an elementary school until 1980, when it became home to the magnet Business, Management, and Financial Center for 6 years. It changed hands multiple times before being vacant for over 10 years. It is now Franklin School Senior Apartments.

The Booker T. Washington Vocational School, also known as The Franklin School, was located at 814 N. 19th Street near the former Mill Creek Valley neighborhood. The Booker T. Washington Vocational School was the first vocational school for the Black population of St. Louis from its inception as a part of the St. Louis Public Schools policy of segregation. Black students went to Booker T. Washington for vocational studies and white students attended Hadley Technical High School less than two miles away. The building is an example of the 19th century and early 20th century Greek Revival style housed about 391 students within its walls

Booker T. Washington Vocational School 

The People's Hospital was a significant building that once resided in the neighborhood of Mill Creek Valley. Despite this neighborhood's rich 200+ year African American history, the people of St. Louis decided in the 1950s to tear down many sections of this area and create new refurbished buildings, highway ramps, and much more. Luckily for the People's Hospital, it is one of the few buildings that remain on Locust Street, but that does not mean that this establishment did not face the hardships associated with the gentrification of this land. In December of 1860, the St. Louis Provident Association was created with the intention to support the lower class and ethnic minorities as they merged into white American society. They focused their work on more than just temporary assistance and ensured that their patients were able to sustain themselves during and after their transitions. Not only was the association dedicated to enhancing the lives of St. Louisans in poverty but they also were one of the first groups to dedicate themselves to the field of social work. This organization was one of the leading social work institutions for their time and they are the organization responsible for starting the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. Following the establishment of the Saint Louis Provident Association, the board then created the People's Hospital, previously known as Provident Hospital, just west of downtown St. Louis in 1903. This three story, brown brick building was filled with African American doctors, nurses, and seventy-five beds for their private African American patients for over sixty years. The Peoples Hospital, along with the Annie Malone Children's Home and the Firmin Desloge Hospital were some of the first public institutions in St. Louis to cater to its African American population during the late 19th century and early 20th century. From the end of the Civil War to the end of segregation, this was one of only four African-American hospitals that have existed in Saint Louis. The hospital was especially influential for its contributions to promote universal healthcare, advance women's careers and education, and ethnic welfare. The social and economic contributions of this hospital helped to move Saint Louis forward despite the racial separation of the time. One way that the People's Hospital helped to do this was by establishing one of the first nurses training program for Black women. This was one of the only post-secondary education opportunities for minority women in the area. In 1967, the People's Hospital was facing financial hardships and closed it's doors indefinitely. Renters from other social groups who focused on the well being of St. Louisans moved in but their stays were temporary and they left shortly after. The last known group to occupy the building was the Brennan Center for the Blind and they vacated the building in 1972. Since then the first floor of the building has been used for as a temporary storage unit but as of today the building lies empty yet full of the rich history of the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood.

Established in 1903, the People's Hospital was the only privatized institution in St. Louis that treated African American patients during segregation. This clinic is one of the many buildings that once made up the, now, forgotten Mill Creek Valley neighborhood of St. Louis. Currently, the People's Hospital building remains at 2219 Locust St. but has since been abandoned. 

People's Hospital

In the early 20th century, amid the shift of America’s Black population northward, African Americans in St. Louis resisted segregation practices and widespread racial hostility as they built a vibrant professional and residential community in the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood, just east of downtown St. Louis. During the mid- and late- 19th century, German immigrants populated the neighborhood, but by early 20th century, African Americans began moving in and the neighborhood became a major locus of Black excellence, racial uplift, and community building.  Central the vision of Mill Creek Valley as a residential, economic, and cultural center for Black St. Louisans, the People’s Finance Corporation (PFC) was founded in 1923 by seven local Black men. The organizers created PFC to provide financing for Black homeowners who were usually shut out of traditional mortgages by the racist practices of White bankers. During the early 20th century, local and national Black leaders envisioned entrepreneurialism as a central strategy towards the larger project of racial uplift, and the People’s Finance Corporation was just such a shining example of Black excellence and community development. According to the National Urban League journal, by 1925 the company was the largest finance entity held entirely by Black people in the entire country.  Shortly after founding PFC, leadership shifted their focus towards building a space to house their offices. But they also envisioned a building that would be a centerpiece of the neighborhood and a community hub. In 1926, built entirely by Black tradesmen, the People’s Finance Building opened at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Market Street to a large celebration. In total, the five story building featured eighty-one offices and provided commercial space for doctors, lawyers, and others, all for an estimated cost of $150,000, well over two million in contemporary value.  Residential segregation ensured that Black St. Louisans of a variety of income levels both worked and lived in Mill Creek Valley, and as a result the People’s Finance Building quickly became a hub of professional and political life. In its heyday, the People’s Finance Building housed the St. Louis American and the St. Louis Argus, the two primary Black newspapers. A number of civil rights organizations also maintained offices there, including local chapters of the NAACP and March on Washington organization, as well as Black labor organizations like the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and the Colored Motion Picture Operators. A number of doctors and lawyers also rented offices in the building, and one knew that one had truly arrived as a Black professional when working at the grand building. But beyond prestige, the professional milieu of the building provided a space for community leadership to commingle and exchange ideas about the future of Black America. As such, those working in the building nurtured many important relationships that proved critical to the local and national civil rights movement.  In 1954 the city of St. Louis announced its intention to demolish the entire neighborhood as part of Urban Renewal efforts, and shortly thereafter the Land Clearance Redevelopment Authority cleared the entire neighborhood. Although the building came down and the community was scattered across the city and county, the legacy of the building and its hub of Black intellectual and political life remain.

Formed in 1923, the People's Finance Corporation served Black St. Louisans who were shut out of White-led financial institutions. In 1926, the Corporation opened the five story People's Finance Building at the corner of Jefferson and Market Avenues. This building anchored the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood, just west of downtown St. Louis, as a hub of Black community and commerce. Throughout the years, a large number of Black professionals conducted business in the space, as well as serving as the headquarters for an array of Black unions and civil rights organizations. The building was torn down by the city as part of its urban renewal plan in 1954. 

People's Finance Corporation/People's Finance Building

The Young Men's Christian Association, better known as the YMCA, was founded in London by a man named George Williams in 1844. Seven years later, the organization crossed the pond and added its first branch in America. The chapters of the the YMCA were exclusively white and, as the title implies, male. Even Emancipation and the spirit of Reconstruction did not move the organization to integrate. So, the Black community of St. Louis, Missouri decided to create a similar association for themselves, following in the example of several other Black community organizations across the country. In 1887, John Boyer Vashon, principal of Colored School No. 10, founded the YMCA for Colored Men. Vashon was a giant in St. Louis's African American community - Vashon High School, the city's second Black high school, was named for him (and his famous father, George Boyer Vashon) in 1927. Unfortunately, he passed away three years before the school opened. His branch was not officially accepted by the YMCA at large until 1912, when it was incorporated into the Metropolitan St. Louis YMCA system. Perhaps, for that reason, the YMCA for Colored Men had changed its name to the Afro-American Young Men's Christian Home Association at some point in its history. Unfortunately, the exact date has been lost to history. The Pine Street YMCA, which stood roughly at this location in what was the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood, was dedicated on March 23rd, 1919. Even before it opened its doors to the public, it served the Black community. In the final days of World War I, the Pine Street YMCA fed and housed segregated African American troops as they waited to ship out to their next destination. Over the next four decades, the Pine Street YMCA found itself at the center of a number of civil rights movements. In the early 1940s, St. Louis activists met at the Pine Street YMCA to discuss how they could help support the national March on Washington Movement (MOWM) headed by prominent civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph. This movement called for the United States government to desegregate the military and outlaw hiring discrimination in the defense industry. They were successful on the second count, forcing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to sign an executive order enforcing fair hiring practices and opening up new defense jobs to African Americans around the country. The St. Louis chapter and the Pine Street YMCA played their part in the March on Washington Movement. At a fundraising rally held at the Municipal Auditorium Convention Hall, Pine Street YMCA executive secretary James Cook collected funds. He later became a member of the local chapter of the MOWM's executive board. The Pine Street YMCA also played host to the St. Louis branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), one of the largest and most active chapters in the United States (as of the 1940s). In addition, touring civil rights lecturers often stopped and spoke at the YMCA. The Pine Street YMCA also was a place that allowed St. Louis's Black community to relax and unwind. Aside from their facilities (which included a pool and a gymnasium), they operated a camp for children about an hour outside of St. Louis in Bourbon, Missouri called Camp Rivercliff. Every year, Pine Street YMCA would put on an event called "Y Circus" to raise money for the camp. In it, local children got to show off their gymnastic stunts. However, the main event was a performance by a musician or a comedian. Some years, they were able to bring in big names like Nat "King" Cole and Duke Ellington. The Pine Street YMCA was demolished with its historically Black neighborhood, Mill Creek Valley, in the name of urban renewal in 1960. In 1957, the larger YMCA organization integrated, meaning that displaced members could now join the Downtown location. This perhaps could have served as a justification for the Pine Street location's destruction. In the end, a major African American community center was lost. The YMCA did not allow female members until 1971.

The Pine Street YMCA served as the social hub of African American St. Louis.  It offered its members a swimming pool and gymnasium, as well as meeting rooms, dorms, and a cafeteria - facilities that often turned away Black people in white neighborhoods. More than that, the Pine Street YMCA was a safe space for the Black community. It was where groups could meet to organize and fight for civil rights, give back to those less fortunate, or just have fun. The demolition of the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood resulted in the end of the YMCA's forty year history of serving its community in 1960. 

Pine Street YMCA

As a naturally inclined entrepreneur, Tom Turpin, the founder of the Cafe, moved his family from his hometown Savanah, Georgia to Saint Louis so that they could seek a new life. His father and proprietor, John Turpin, had already opened multiple establishments across downtown St. Louis, and is who influenced Tom to open the Rosebud Cafe. After having success with Rosebud, Turpin would go on to found multiple other businesses with his brother Charles including: theatres, gambling halls and nightclubs. Each of these businesses was located in an area known as Chestnut Valley. The Valley was a segregated district located in the heart of downtown, and encompassed a flourishing microeconomy of Black owned businesses. The Valley was among the the first collection of businesses that were "operated by and for Blacks in the United States." The Valley was an undeniably important part of Black history in St. Louis.The Cafe was a spacious building, expanding across "much of the city block." In the front part of the first floor, there were two large bar rooms that were designed for socializing, and a gambling room adjacent. The biggest room in the Cafe was in the back of the first floor, it was an grandiose wine room that had a piano as its focal point- this piano is where famous ragtime artists, including Turpin, would perform. The first floor also had a room called, "The Hunting and Shooting Club, for those who liked outdoor, as well as indoor, sports." The second floor of the building was a hotel that overlooked a annex to the Cafe, a small building that composers could perform in. Turpin marketed the Cafe in local newspapers, advertising many of the special events and composers regularly attending. Turpin's ability to curate such a flourishing environment made him "a hero to the dozens of Black rag players who plied their trade all over the Midwest." It was this reputation along with the proliferation of ragtime, that made the Cafe so popular.The Cafe's regional presence was solidified by its ability to attract ragtime composers from across the nation. In fact, it was within the many rooms of the Cafe, where the style of ragtime was formed. What deviates ragtime music from contemporary styles is its defining aspects of rhythm. The rhythm is “broken up” and has a “syncopated melody” known as “ragging,” that requires an "innate feeling" to be performed properly. It was Turpin who taught the these fundamental aspects of rag to young, (at the time unknown) students of the genre named Louis Chauvin and Scott Joplin. Chauvin, a Saint Louis native and the first protégé of Turpin, dropped out of school at 13 to dedicate himself to complex aspects of composing rag. His skill did not require much improvement as he possessed "harmonically advanced and prematurely modern music sensibilities" from a young age. He would go on to compose his most famous work at the Cafe, Baby, its too long off. This song garnered recognition from publishers as far as New York, solidifying Chauvin's national presence as a ragtime composer. He would go on to compose three published works throughout his time at the Cafe. Despite having so few published works, he is still regarded by historians as a "brilliant and influential" ragtime pianist. One of his works called Heliotrope Banquet, was composed in collaboration with his friend and fellow composer Scott Joplin. Joplin had a much different upbringing than Chauvin, he was born and raised in Texarkana, an environment that severely restricted his aptitude for music from a young age. Despite all odds stacked against him, Joplin would go on to develop his music career, and eventually moved to Chicago to join a band for in 1894. Years later, Joplin moved to Sedalia, Missouri in 1898 where he composed his first piece of rag, quickly selling 10,000 copies. It was after this work gained regional traction, that Joplin would join Chauvin and Turpin as a dedicated student, passionate about ragtime music. The three all became close friends, and were not opposed to the idea of collaborating and sharing new ideas with each other. In fact, it was in the few years they had together at the Cafe that the three composed the most famous rags ever recorded. The first piece composed at the Cafe was titled Harlem Rag, written by Turpin himself. This was the original piece of published rag written by a Black man. As aforementioned, Heliotrope Bouquet was composed by both Chauvin Joplin. Bouquet is often commemorated as "one of the most famous rags" ever recorded, because of its nuanced melody. Perhaps the only rag that most Americans known and love today is Joplin's The Entertainer. This song, both written and recorded at the Cafe, has transcended the barriers of time and is still honored by pianist across the world. The reign of Rosebud did not last forever. Prejudice government reform that harmed Black business owners coupled with a reduction in ragtime's popularity forced the Cafe to close in 1906. Despite its short lifetime, the Cafe "showcased many of the first generation geniuses," and for most artist, "their years at the Cafe were their most productive." Following the close of the Cafe, the ragtime scene went relatively quiet as the popularity of new genres rose. Chauvin unfortunately passed away a few years after the a debilitating illness. Joplin would go onto to be "troubled by financial woes, as he lacked business savvy." Turpin turned to the field of politics, to combat the oppressive intuitions that destroyed his businesses. Turpin left behind his entrepreneurial aspirations and in doing so, left behind the Cafe.The influence of ragtime and the Cafe still lives on in the style of numerous other musical genres, and the Chestnut Valley played a paramount role in the development of Black culture in St. Louis. The Rosebud Cafe is now commemorated with a recreation at 2660 Delmar BLV, the basement of the Scott Joplin Historic Site. This site is the location of Joplin's Saint Louis home and was commemorated in 1976 as National Historic landmark. Because of its significance, the house was purchased by an African American Neighborhood Association and now receives public and private funding. The site commemorates the profound influence of Joplin, the Cafe, and "the urban milieu" of Chestnut Valley.

This is the site of of the Historic Rosebud Cafe, the birthplace of the American musical tradition, ragtime. Located at the corner of Market and Clark, the Saloon was a entertainment space that gained unprecedented traction in the contemporary music scene. This site has been pinned at 2220 market street for one reason -this is its historically accurate position, and is not to be confused with its recreation in the basement of Scott Joplin Historic Site, a few blocks north of its original location. Rosebud hosted the most acclaimed ragtime composers from the period, and was where the very first piece of ragtime by a Black artist was composed. The saloon has been historically recognized as an "establishment that nurtured and showcased" the remarkable skill of Black, ragtime composers. Without the Rosebud Cafe, ragtime music would not be known as the glamorous, influential musical genre it is now known as today.

The Rosebud Cafe

Madam C.J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove in Louisiana in 1867. Her parents were former slaves who spent their few years of emancipated life as sharecroppers before they suddenly orphaned their daughter around the age of seven. After working on the plantation for three more years, she was passed along to one of her sisters and her less than willing husband, a violent man with a strong temper who saw Sarah as a burden. Sarah grew up as Reconstruction was failing. With no school for Black boys or girls in the area, she was forced to earn her keep in the home by doing chores like the washing. At only 14, she married a man Moses McWilliams to escape. A little over three years later, in 1885, she gave birth to a daughter named A'Lelia. Sarah was only 17. Tragedy struck her life yet again when she was left a widow at 20 with a young daughter to feed. That year, 1887, she and her two-year-old daughter hopped on a steamboat heading from Louisiana to St. Louis and to joined her three brothers who worked in the city as barbers. She supported her small family by working as a washerwoman, taking in the measly sum of $1.50 per day. It wasn't much, but it allowed Sarah to send A'Leila to public school. (The public schools had a tuition because the city's elite did not want their children looked down upon for going to school for free like an orphan or a street urchin.) She settled into life in St. Louis, religiously attending the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church (the second oldest Black church in the city), pursuing her education through night school classes, and actively participating in church clubs. Contact with St. Louis's middle class Black community pushed Sarah to work to better her family's lives. Remarkably, she was able to save enough to send A'Leila to Knoxville College in Tennessee so she could get the education her mother and enslaved ancestors never had. In 1894, Sarah married again, this time to a man named John Davis. Unfortunately, it was not much happier. Davis was abusive, suffered from alcoholism, and was addicted to gambling. Even before the two separated, Sarah began seeing a new man - Charles Joseph (C.J.) Walker. Walker was radically different than Davis; he had his life together. Walker had made a good living for himself in the newspaper business as a salesman. In 1906, Sarah married him, despite still being married to Davis. She then started going by the name she is famous as - Madam C.J. Walker. During her time in St. Louis, Walker's hair began to fall out. Years of hard work and an insufficient diet caused her to develop alopecia. The few hair care products designed for African American hair types available at the time were chock full of harmful chemicals that often burned women's scalps. Sarah would later claim that her recipe for a gentler and more effective hair care product came to her in a dream after she prayed and prayed for a solution to her hair woes. However, it's likely that her product was developed through experimentation during her time working as a hairdresser and saleswoman for another local hair care entrepreneur, Annie Turnbo Pope (later known as Annie Turnbo Malone). In 1905, Sarah moved to Denver, Colorado to live with her sister-in-law and nieces. Her career as a remote saleswoman for Annie Turnbo Pope was brief. Soon after arriving in Denver, she combined her hair care knowledge with her new husband's marketing skills and launched her own company, called the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company. While giving demonstrations and teaching classes on her new product, Sarah also had to work as a cook and a laundress and take in boarders to survive. In addition, her former boss was not happy to have a new competitor. Annie Turnbo Pope and Madam C.J. Walker created an intense rivalry. However, Walker's company soon took off and even surpassed Pope's. In 1910, Madam C.J. Walker opened a massive manufacturing headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana that created and shipped her products out to her network of training schools across the country and into the hands of her door-to-door saleswomen, known as Walker agents. Madam C.J Walker's business empire made her the first female self-made millionaire in America. However, it also cost her her marriage. Sarah's ambition far outpaced her husband's. In the end, she kept his name and her fortune. Walker did not hoard her money, though. She became a prominent philanthropist giving back to Black organizations. Her company also offered Black women the rare opportunity to serve in executive positions and better their own lives. Madam C.J. Walker died in 1919 in her thirty-four room mansion, just outside of New York City. She was only 51. Her daughter A'Leila, who had been an active participant in the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company from the beginning, stepped into her mother's footsteps and took over the reigns of the business.

Madam C.J. Walker is best known as one of the pioneers of commercial products for African American hair care. Though she set up her factory in Indianapolis, and eventually called New York home, the idea for her groundbreaking product came to her in a dream here in St. Louis. She lived in the city for 18 years, and part of that was spent here at 1615 Linden Street, which now houses lofts, an advertising firm, and, fittingly, a beauty salon. 

Walker's life story is now the basis of the plot of a Netflix original television series, "Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker." Walker is played by Academy Award winning actress Octavia Spencer. 

Madam C.J. Walker House

The Booker T. Washington Theatre first opened in 1912 and operated until 1930. Named for Booker T. Washington, many locals referred to the theater as "Bookers." It had a seating capacity of one thousand and was one of the first theaters operated by and for African Americans in the United States. The theater was located in Mill Creek Valley area, a majority African-American neighborhood in St. Louis city. St. Louis has long been a segregated city, first officially due to race-restrictive covenants and redlining, and now unofficially due to the long-lasting effects of old segregation laws. Theater owner Charles Udell Turpin was a businessman, politician, and motion picture pioneer. In 1910, Charles was the first African American in St. Louis to be elected to a local political office. He made a point to hire fellow African Americans at his business. His brother, Tom Turpin, had his own ragtime band and ran the Rosebud Cafe (sometimes referred to as Rosebud Saloon) next door at 2220-22 Market. Performances at the theater featured vaudeville, motion pictures, and musical acts. The theater was a member of the African-American vaudeville circuit, the Theatre Owners' Booking Association. This membership helped bring in stars such as Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith, and Ma Rainey. The theater showed motion pictures with a different theme each week, such as African, cowboy, or Egyptian. The theater served as an important venue in the history of St. Louis music. In the early years, Tom Turpin held piano contests that drew in popular ragtime musicians of the day such as George Coins, Charles Thompson, Owen Marshall, and Raymond Hines. As trends in music changed, these contests did as well. Ragtime slowly evolved into different music traditions as the 1920s approached. By 1915, a blues piano contest was held at the theater, and the final ragtime piano contest took place in 1916. One of the most popular musical evolutions that took hold in the 1920s was jazz. Elijah Shaw, a jazz musician who played on the Mississippi riverboats, remembered seeing all the "top Negro entertainers" play at the theater. In 1927, Shaw played with Bill Robinson around the time that a tornado came through the city. In an interview with the State Historical Society of Missouri, he recalled, "I played there and I incidentally, played once right during the tornado when Bill Robinson was playing. He came out and did his act at the Booker Washington Theater for the benefit of the tornado suffers. And I got a chance to play for Bill Robinson." The theater was a popular gathering place for children as well. Between the ages of 12 and 13, Josephine Baker was one of many children who performed outside the Booker T Washington Theatre, hoping to get noticed by the theater's patrons. Baker went on to become a popular entertainer in France. Baker was not the only young musician to find inspiration at the theater. Henry Townsend, a St. Louis-based blues guitarist, decided to pursue his career after hearing Lonnie Johnson play guitar at the Booker T. Washington Theater when he was young. Places like the Booker T. Washington Theater played an important role for young African Americans seeking representation in a time of widespread race division.

The Booker T. Washington Theatre was one of the first theaters in the United States operated by African-Americans for African-Americans. In its operating years between 1912 and 1930, audiences came to see vaudeville performances, motion pictures, and musical acts. Charles Udell Turpin, the theater's owner and manager, was the first African-American St. Louisan elected to a political office in 1910. The theater was host to many prominent African-American artists throughout its history. Ethel Waters and Bill Robinson were among the stars featured at Booker T. Washington Theatre. As a child, entertainer Josephine Baker performed outside the theater with other neighborhood children hoping to get noticed.

Booker T. Washington Theatre

The story of Colored School No. 1 goes back to the end of the Civil War. During the Civil War, both free and enslaved African Americans had limited opportunities to receive an education. Slave states felt that an educated enslaved person was more dangerous; they believed that a literate slave could read abolitionist papers and write to other enslaved people to encourage them to rise up against their owner. In St. Louis during the Civil War, roughly 1600 African Americans attended five schools directed by the Sanitary Commission, an organization which provided food, clothing, medical attention, and other basic needs to the populations of war torn areas. However, after the end of the Civil War and the emancipation of enslaved African Americans, the government required in the new Constitution that public schools provide education to all students. The St. Louis Board of Education began operating the African American schools in 1865. By 1866, the Board had consolidated the Sanitary Commission schools, and opened the first of what would eventually be twelve schools for African Americans. Both students and faculty alike faced a great deal of hardship in the early days of post-Civil War education. It became apparent that politicians in charge of the city and school board, along with a significant portion of the white population, intended only to fulfill the bare minimum of requirements set forth by the new Constitution. The Superintendent reported in the late 1860s that the Board of Education and government had no policies in place to enforce the standards set for the new schooling system. The Board of Education only rented buildings for the African American schools. These tended to be small residential facilities, forcing classes of fifty to be crammed into singular rooms. Colored School No. 1 originally sat at Gratiot and Fifth Street in a two story, four room structure that had 4 teachers for roughly 200 students. The animosity towards the African American community also meant that the African American schools had a difficult time filling faculty positions, since white teachers did not want to teach in the school, or train African American teachers. In addition to limited access to resources, the members of the African American school district faced the threat of violence as well. In 1868 for instance, a drunken police officer assaulted a faculty member of Colored School No. 2 simply due to the teacher's race and profession of supporting young African Americans. The hardships continued to the members of the African American district schools. Since they attended school in rented facilities, the students dealt with uncertainty, as they did not know how long they would be in one spot, and possibly fearing if they'd be able to attend their school after it relocated. By 1880, Colored School No. 1 had moved to its location at 1413 Lucas Avenue, by the modern day City Museum and Enterprise Center. This property had an estimated value of $34,293 in 1880, roughly $919,000 in modern money. Meanwhile, some of the white schools had property values of $76,499, or nearly $2 million today. This low-value accommodation showed in the slew of issues the students and faculty faced. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and St. Louis Globe Democrat, the school board knew the new location lacked ventilation, heating, and air condition starting in 1880. The newspaper ran a full account of these poor conditions in 1886, but the Board of Education did not award a contract to fix the problem until four years later in 1890. Not only did the students suffer, but adults as well. Colored School No. 1 began a night school in 1888, but the right of adults to attend school was taken away. The school board appeared to want the African American community to feel lesser than the white population. While white schools were named after famous and prominent people, African American schools were only given numerical identifiers, giving them a cold, inhuman feeling. The disregard for African American quality of education left the community feeling like second-class citizens. However, despite the hardships they faced, students continued to resist the hatred forced upon them, prove their academic prowess and equality, and demonstrate their civil pride. Receiving and excelling at education in itself was a symbol of opposition in the late nineteenth century. During the years of enslavement, the law prohibited the education of enslaved people. While secret schools for slaves evolved, few received an education. Now, the African-American proved their academic prowess. In a report by the Board of Education in 1880 showed that the African American district schools had a 91% attendance rate, and had fewer students marked late than the white district schools. Education then, just as it does now, provided African-American students significant opportunities that allowed them the chance to improve the quality of their and their family's lives. The leaders of Colored School No. 1 became leaders of within the community, voicing their support and resistance to oppression. The principal of Colored School No. 1 gave speeches at Emancipation Day programs that supported the African American Community. And in 1888, the students of Colored School No. 1 had a central part in the May Day festivities in the city. Even the name of the school stands as a symbol of resistance. After 1890, Colored School No. 1 was named Dumas Elementary, after the French writer. The students and faculty continued to persevere as a community during the hardships of the Jim Crow Era.

Opening in 1866, Colored School No. 1, as all contemporary sources refer to it, relates the story of how even after emancipation, St. Louis' African American population had to continue its fight for equality. Activists focused this struggle on the battlefield of education,  as the city's elite and white society subjected them to systemic oppression in the wake of the Civil War. Originally located two blocks south from Busch Stadium at Fifth (modern day Broadway) and Gratiot Street in the city, the students and faculty of the segregated "Colored" schools endured lack of funding, insufficient resources, and uncertainty. In the face of it all however, the students and faculty of Colored School No. 1 continuously excelled in academics, and expressed their pride as citizens of St. Louis and the United States.

Colored School No. 1, Dumas Elementary

The First Baptist Church of St. Louis formed in 1817 when two Baptist missionaries, John Mason Peck and James E. Welch, came to St. Louis to form schools and churches for native populations within the area. In addition to their goal of serving Native Americans, both men felt it important to build institutions for the African population as well.  As a result, Peck and Welch formed the Sabbath School of Negroes. Among the men who had enrolled at the school was John Berry Meachum, a key figure in the establishment of the First Baptist Church. Born enslaved in Virginia, Meachum worked to pay for his own freedom as well as the freedom of his family before settling in St. Louis. Peck and Meachum forged a close relationship leading to Meachum’s ordainment in 1825.  Shortly after, Meachum formed the First African Baptist Church under the supervision of Peck until 1827 when the church became independent. In 1829, a plot of land near the present-day Arch grounds in downtown St. Louis was purchased to erect the first church building. Initially the congregation consisted of less than twenty people. As Meachum grew to be a more prominent figure within the area, the congregation grew to over two hundred people, the majority of which were enslaved. While working as a preacher for the church, Meachum also ran small businesses to employ enslaved congregation members to help them buy their freedom, as well as utilizing the church as a stopping point along the Underground Railroad. In 1854, Meachum died while preaching to his congregation, which is appropriately reflective of how he lived his life. Meachum’s dedication to serving his religious community and the enslaved population of St. Louis helped create a strong foundation for the First Baptist Church enabling it to continue into the twenty-first century.  First Baptist Church remained at its first location on Almond Street, Market Street today, until 1885. The church moved to its present location on Bell Street in 1882 until the original structure burned down in 1942. The church rebuilt in the same location and has remained there since then. Today, First Baptist Church remains a vibrant piece of the local community and continues the same trend that Meachum started in the nineteenth century. The church has outreach programs for causes within St. Louis and events related to African American history. Archival material relating to the church, Meachum, and other prominent members are kept by the church for the public to use in research. Although First Baptist Church does not have the same focus on education as it did under Meachum, the church has altered its goals and programs to best serve the current needs of the local community.

The First Baptist Church of St. Louis was the first African-American church west of the Mississippi River. The First Baptist Church and one of its founders, John Berry Meachum, made a large impact helping the enslaved population of St. Louis and helped to form the city that we see today. Founded in 1817 by two missionaries, the church has been able to survive through pre- and post-Civil War era Missouri and thrive into the twenty-first century with a strong congregation. Still functioning today, the First Baptist Church of St. Louis has a vibrant congregation which serves the local community.   Although the church does not operate in the same building it originated in on Almond Street, the current building on Bell Avenue has been the church's home since 1952. 

First Baptist Church of St. Louis 

Established in 1875 in St. Louis’ historic Ville neighborhood, Sumner High School was the first high school for African American students west of the Mississippi River. By the 1920s, Sumner was suffering from severe overcrowding and was difficult for many Mill Creek Valley students to easily access. In 1922, a group of concerned residents along with The Central School Patron Association made plans for a second African American high school in Mill Creek Valley. Thanks to their efforts, Vashon High School opened its doors in 1927, named after John B. Vashon and his late father George, both outstanding local African American educators. For the next 36 years, Vashon served as a top-rated educational institution, known for its academic curriculum and its athletic programs.  Following the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision to desegregate public schools, many African American residents of St. Louis were resistant to integration because they felt it would weaken their prosperous, thriving community there. Even though St. Louis' public schools were segregated, both White and African American schools received comparable funding, and all students were taught using the same curriculum and textbooks, organized by a biracial committee of educators. Local NAACP representatives struggled to persuade members that integration would provide a better education for their children. African American parents were also concerned for their children's safety if they were to attend an integrated school. In 1954, St. Louis housed nine high schools, seven for White students and two for African American students: Sumner and Vashon. Only 591 out of 4,275 African American high school students chose to attend an integrated school after the Brown decision. Of those students, 425 switched to the predominantly African American Soldan-Blewett High School in St. Louis' Cabanne area near The Ville. After segregation, most African American students remained within their original school districts, and most African American schools remained open. St. Louis' vibrant African American community acted as a safety net for students and teachers. Unfortunately, by the 1950s, St. Louis residents voted in favor of tearing down large areas of the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood as part of an urban renewal plan. Although many considered Mill Creek to still be a thriving commercial and residential neighborhood, it was demolished in the late 1950s and families were forced to move. Vashon was relocated to the Hadley Vocational-Technical High School building at 3405 Bell Avenue in 1963. From 1974 into the 1980s, Vashon's boys’ basketball team, under coach Floyd Irons, became one of the top teams in Missouri history, earning four state championships. By 1990, the Board of Education considered closing Vashon High or relocating it due to the need for major building renovations. Because of alumni support and the success of the boys’ basketball team, the Board decided against closing the school and opted for a partial building renovation. In 1994, the boys’ basketball team won another state championship under Coach Irons. In 1998, the state passed Senate Bill 781, containing a provision that required the City of St. Louis to increase taxes for additional funds in order to renovate existing schools and build new ones. With support from community organizations like the Save Vashon Committee, the tax increase paved the way for a new Vashon High School building, which opened in 2002 at its third and current location of 3035 Cass Avenue. At the cost of $40 million, the new building had space for 1,300 students, 13 science and computer labs, four early childhood rooms, and a large library and media resource center. New basketball courts and a swimming pool were also built on the new campus. Vashon’s boys’ basketball team continues to win state competitions, its most recent state championship in 2017.

Vashon High School was established in 1927 at 3026 Laclede Avenue to serve St. Louis’ African American Mill Creek Valley neighborhood, relieving overcrowding at Sumner High School in The Ville. After most of the Mill Creek neighborhood was demolished in the late 1950s as part of an urban renewal program, Vashon was relocated to the Hadley Vocational-Technical High School building at 3405 Bell Avenue in 1963. In 2002, Vashon moved to its present location at 3035 Cass Avenue. Today, the original building continues to serve the St. Louis community as part of the Harris-Stowe State University campus. Vashon is best known around the U.S. for its top-ranking boys’ basketball program.

Vashon High School 

The earliest predecessor of Harris-Stowe State University was a normal school for White students established in 1857 by the St. Louis Public School system. It was the first public teacher education institution west of the Mississippi River and the 12th of its kind in the United States. The school was later named Harris Teachers College in honor of William Torrey Harris, a Superintendent of Instruction in St. Louis and a United States Commissioner of Education. In 1920, Harris Teachers College became a four-year undergraduate institution where students could earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education.  The second predecessor institution was Stowe Teachers College established for African American students, first called the Sumner Normal School as an extension of Sumner High School in St. Louis' historic Ville neighborhood. It was founded by the St. Louis Public School system in 1890 and was upgraded to a four-year institution in 1924. Stowe Teachers College was the first college established for African American students in the St. Louis region, and the second of its kind in the state of Missouri: Lincoln University in Jefferson City was the first, chartered in 1866. In 1929, Sumner Normal School was renamed Stowe Teachers College after famous writer and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe. In 1940, the Sumner Normal School relocated to 2615 Pendleton Avenue in The Ville. On graduating from Sumner high, many students continued into Stowe where they trained to become teachers for local African American schools including Marshall, Turner Open Air, and Sumner. Students at Stowe describe the college as having a nurturing, family-like atmosphere where they were taught how to be effective teachers and good citizens. In a 2005 interview with historian Kenneth Allen Wetstein at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, former student Gloria Rosenblum described Stowe as an “Afro-American finishing school. Not only were we taught academics, we were, I would say, polished off as far as etiquette and proper behavior were concerned.” In 1954, the St. Louis Public School system ended school segregation and integrated Stowe with Harris Teachers College. Former student Lynn Beckwith Jr. graduated from the newly-integrated Harris Teachers College in 1961. "When I was in high school there was Harris Teachers College for Whites and Stowe Teachers College for Blacks,” Lynn explains in a 2019 interview with KSDK news reporter Rhyan Henson. Growing up in St. Louis’ Ville neighborhood, Lynn was the first in his family to attend and graduate college. He explains that integration wasn’t easy, but relationships between White and African American students improved over time. “They were cordial and we were cordial because we wanted to make this thing work,” Beckwith states. “That experience at Harris Teacher's College laid the groundwork for me to learn how to work in an integrated world.” Beckwith describes Harris-Stowe State University as “an anchor in the African American community.” The National Black Radio Hall of Fame is also housed on campus, and preserves important memorabilia from local and national entertainment icons. During the Civil Rights Era, radio broadcasts were important in spreading news and information to the African American community. The Harris-Stowe Hornets baseball team still plays on the same field that used to belong to the St. Louis Stars of the Negro Baseball League, who won championships there in 1928 and 1930. In 1963, the integrated Harris Teachers College relocated to the original Vashon High School building at its current location in Midtown. In 1979, Senate Bill 703 made the newly-renamed Harris-Stowe College the newest member of the state’s public higher education system and it was renamed Harris-Stowe State College. In 1981, a new Bachelor of Science in Urban Education program was established, the only one of its kind at the undergraduate level in the United States. It was designed to prepare urban education specialists to effectively cope with the unique issues facing today's urban schools. In 1993, Harris-Stowe developed two new baccalaureate degree programs in Business Administration and Secondary Teacher Education. Finally, on August 25, 2005, Harris-Stowe State College obtained its current university status.

Harris-Stowe State University traces its origins back to two of the earliest teachers’ colleges west of the Mississippi River, Harris Teachers College for White students and Stowe Teachers College for African American students. Guided by the Board of Education, the two institutions were combined in 1954 as the first of several steps to integrate St. Louis' public schools. The merged institution relocated to the original Vashon High School building at its current Midtown location in 1963. In 1979, Harris-Stowe College became the newest member of the state’s public higher education system and it was renamed Harris-Stowe State College. Finally, on August 25, 2005, Harris-Stowe State College obtained its current university status. Today, with an undergraduate enrollment of nearly 1,500 students, Harris-Stowe State University in Midtown is expanding, and offers a diverse range of educational services for the St. Louis community and beyond.


Harris-Stowe State University 

October 15th, 1899, 22 year old Frankie Barker shot and killed her 17 year old boyfriend Allen Britt at 212 Targee St., St. Louis, MO, now approximately around the Enterprise Center. The next morning, the St. Louis Globe printed an article with the title "Negro shot by woman". The vagueness and shortness of newspaper articles of the time allowed for variations of the story to be created and imagined. According to her neighbors, just weeks after, the song "Frankie and Allen" was composed and was being sung by Jim Dooley. As the song spread Allen became Albert and Albert became Johnny to create a better rhyme. Most versions of the song say she shot him with a .44 caliber gun 3-5 times but many details outside that change from song to song. Before the murder Frankie Barker was described as well-dressed and well known for her dancing skills in the neighborhood as well as having owned a boarding house. There are suggestions that this boarding house also worked as a brothel as many other houses in the neighborhood did. In some newspapers, Frankie is also frequently described as a streetwalker and prostitute, with Allen as her pimp. In the songs and in real life, Frankie often gave Allen money or expensive gifts including nice suits and guitars.  There were two people with stories about the actual night of the murder, Frankie's own recollection from her trial, and Clay Richardson's, who was with Allen on his deathbed in City Hospital when he died four days after being shot. Frankie's version shows Allen and Frankie having a fight before Allen leaves for the night until he comes back at 2:30 am drunk and angry. She said that she had yelled at him to leave, but he threw an oil lamp at her and pulled out a knife. Scared, she pulled out the .32 caliber gun (not the .44 most song version gives her) from underneath her pillow and shot him once in the stomach. During her trial Frankie claimed self-defense and stated that Allen would beat her and supposedly even came to court a few days after the murder with a Black eye he had given her before. Clay Richardson's version is fairly similar but skews to the perception of Allen, portraying him as a naive 17 year old that could not handle Frankie. He also puts them at the Phoenix Hotel having a public argument and placing an Alice Pryar as sharing Allen's affections with Frankie. The songs often give her trial a darker outcome than the truth, sometimes having her locked up or even hanged, in actuality she got off on the claim of self-defense and was even allowed to take her gun back. After the trial, Frankie was bombarded with the song about the murder and left for Omaha, Nebraska where she found the song had followed. Eventually she ended up in Portland, Oregon owning a shoeshine factory and ignoring the spread of the song of her life until movies and books started being created in the 1930s that created a resurgence in popularity of the song. This ended up in her suing for defamation and eventually losing in 1942 as people went back on their previous statements of inspiration and testified the song actually predated her murder of Allen Britt. By 1950 Frankie Barker checked into a mental institution and died two years later.

"Frankie and Johnny," a murder ballad that permeates American culture, is a story of a wronged woman killing her lover. The ballad inspired multiple works of film and fiction, including the 1991 movie Frankie and Johnny. The ballad is said to be based on a true murder that occurred at this location in St. Louis on October 15th, 1899. On that day, Frankie Barker shot and killed her boyfriend Allen Britt after supposedly catching him cheating on her. This event led Jim Dooley, a local composer, to write a song that spread and adapted into what is now known as the ballad of "Frankie and Johnny." The killing occurred at this location, which was home to Targee Street at that time and is roughly the center of the Enterprise Center where the St. Louis Blues play hockey.

1899 Murder that Inspired "Frankie and Johnny"

Josephine Baker's early life in St. Louis was burdened by poverty and hard work. The specifics of her difficult time in Missouri were often fuzzy because Baker preferred not to discuss her bad childhood. Baker's biological father abandoned the family after the birth of Josephine's younger brother, leaving her mother Carrie to provide for her family on her own. Although Carrie married Arthur Martin shortly after, the family still struggled to make ends meet. The home on Gratiot Street was a three bedroom apartment with a stable that cost $6.50 a month in the early 1910s, which eventually became too expensive to keep. After moving from Gratiot Street when Josephine was eight years old, the family moved at least ten more times due to evictions. In order to help her family, Baker stopped attending school to work and bring in extra money. Josephine suffered many instances of abuse while working for various affluent families throughout the city, which stirred up a desire in her to leave St. Louis at a young age. To combat her misery when not working, Josephine would frequently perform on the street in front of theaters to make some extra money. Eventually her talent caught the attention of the Jones Family Band and the Dixie Steppers, with whom she toured throughout the country performing vaudeville acts. During this time Baker met her first husband, Willie Baker, whom she married and permanently changed her name to Josephine Baker. Baker was particularly successful in vaudeville at a young age and hoped to continue this success by leaving St. Louis permanently and moving to New York City. Soon after Baker booked a gig in the show Chocolate Dandies which made her an instant favorite with the crowd. Her magnetic presence on stage sparked the interest of a white wealthy socialite named Caroline Dudley Reagan who hoped to create an all-Black show in Paris, where segregation would not hold them back. After moving to Paris and starring in a few shows, Baker's stardom took off. Known for her comedic acts and dance routines, her success in Paris led her to tour all over Europe. She quickly became one of the most recognizable and highest paid performers in Europe, which allowed her to finally purchase her own home and move her family in with her from St. Louis. Despite Baker's success in Europe, she frequently felt the affects of segregation and prejudice while performing. Although she had left St. Louis in order to remove herself from the poverty and injustice of the Midwest, performing as a Black woman continued to be a struggle throughout her time in New York and the remainder of her life in France. Her struggle was a motivating factor in her work as a civil rights activist beginning in the 1930s. Baker frequently spoke out against negative race relations during her shows and began to refuse shows in segregated theaters. In February 1952, Josephine Baker finally returned to St. Louis for one performance at Kiel Auditorium, formerly on Clark Avenue. During her show, Baker explained how her move to Europe freed her from the setbacks she faced while in the United States and compelled the audience to take action against the civil injustices that surrounded them. During the March on Washington in 1963, Baker was one of two women to speak, in which she explained her experience with racism in the United States and Europe. Up until her death, Baker continued to perform in Paris as a 50th anniversary celebration for her arrival to the city. On April 12, 1975 Baker died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Paris i at the age of 68. Her funeral was attended by over 20,000 in Paris and she was honored with a 21-gun salute, making her the first woman buried in France with military honors.

Lost to the demolition of Mill Creek Valley neighborhood in the 1960s, this is the approximate location of Josephine Baker's childhood home on Gratiot Street in Midtown St. Louis. Josephine Baker was born in St. Louis in 1906 as Freda Josephine McDonald to her parents, Carrie McDonald and Eddie Carson. Josephine Baker created the foundations for her career in show business as a premier dancer, singer, as well as starring in multiple movies. Her love of the spotlight was sparked in St. Louis through her performances in clubs and in front of local theaters, before she relocated permanently in the  1920s to skyrocket her fame. After her move from St. Louis, Josephine Baker grew to be one of the most successful female performers in the world known for her famous banana dance in which she donned an outfit made of artificial bananas, as well as her performances in the films "Siren of the Tropics," "Zouzou," and "Princess Tam Tam."

Josephine Baker Home 

<div>In 1816 Auguste Chouteau and Judge John B.C. Lucas donated land to St. Louis County for a courthouse near the St. Louis riverfront. Built between 1839 and 1864, this Greek Revival,
three-story, brick and stone structure was designed by several architects over
the period of its construction (Henry Singleton, William Twombly, George I.
Barnett, Robert S. Mitchell, Thomas D. F. Lanham, and William Ruumbold) , and
has been altered several times, including a major restoration and remodeling
completed in 1942. Basically a Greek Cross in plan, the junction of the four wings
forms a central rotunda surmounted by a Renaissance style cast-iron dome and
lantern. In the interior of the rotunda, the first three-stories are Greek
Revival, but the later, upper levels, including the dome and lantern are Late
Renaissance, almost Baroque, in style.This upper dome is the first cast iron dome ever built. It was erected in 1862 and still stands today as part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. The dome features four beautiful frescoes created by Carl Wimar, a German immigrant famous for his paintings of American Indian lifestyles and westward expansion. The four murals align with the four cardinal directions, and
each depicts a significant event in St. Louis’ history that occurred in that
direction: Hernando DeSoto encountering the Mississippi River in 1541, Pierre
Laclede and Auguste Chouteau founding St. Louis in 1764, the British-led
Revolutionary War attack on St. Louis in 1780, and the proposed
transcontinental railroad route through the Rocky Mountains’ Cochetopa Pass.
Allegorical and portraits of famous Americans were painted over other Wimar
originals by Ettore Miragoli in 1880.</div><div>The Old Courthouse was the site of hundreds of suits for freedom, but one gained notoriety - It was the scene of Dred Scott’s historic slavery trial in 1847, which focused national attention on the slavery issue. Scott won his case in St. Louis but the decision was
overturned in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857. The court ruled that Scott was not
a citizen and therefore not entitled to sue. The decision served as a flashpoint
for the start of the Civil War. After the decision, Scott and his wife Harriett
were freed by their owner. Scott died in 1858.&nbsp;The Old Courthouse features an exhibition on this pivotal event, called “Dred Scott: A Legacy of Courage.” Re-creations of the trial are conducted throughout the year at the Old Courthouse, and Scott’s grave can be visited at Calvary Cemetery.&nbsp;The last known slave sale in St. Louis was held as part of a property settlement on the steps of the Old Courthouse in 1861. A large anti-slavery crowd refused to bid, and slave traders never tried it again in St. Louis.&nbsp; It is also the place where Virginia Minor's case for a woman's right to vote came to trial in the 1870s. Virginia Minor was an officer in the National Woman Suffrage
Association, which during the 1872 presidential election decided to challenge
voting restrictions in the United States which excluded women. The nation-wide
movement of 1872 originated with Virginia and her husband Francis Minor.
Virginia Minor’s attempt to register to vote was refused by the ward registrar
in St. Louis, and the Minors sued him in the St. Louis Circuit court.&nbsp; </div>

The Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis is one of America’s most important historic sites. The courthouse used to be a combination of a federal and a state courthouse. The courthouse building was the tallest building in Missouri until 1896, when Union Station was built. Today it is one of the centerpieces in the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, together with the mighty Gateway Arch. It features restored courtrooms, a decorated dome, Dioramas, the "Gateway To The West" film and galleries depicting the history of St. Louis. Over the past 150 years, Old Courthouse remained as one of the St. Louis’ most prominent architectural landmarks. 

Old Courthouse - Jefferson National Expansion Memorial

Following encouragement from the St. Louis Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, the National YWCA opened the Chapman Branch with the mission of serving African-American women and girls. Prior to the opening of this branch, African-American women were not permitted to be members at any YWCA location in the St. Louis area. St. Louis has long been a segregated city, due in large part to the effects of segregation laws, race-restrictive covenants, and redlining in the first half of the twentieth century. St. Louis was the fifth city to found an African American YWCA branch, following New York, NY; Poughkeepsie, NY; St. Paul, MN; and Dayton, OH. The original location of the Chapman Branch was the home of Louise Chapman, 2492 Pine Street. The branch was renamed for Phyllis Wheatley on April 13, 1912. Phyllis Wheatley began her life enslaved in Boston. She learned to read and write while enslaved and began writing poetry as a teenager. She was later emancipated and became the first African American and second woman to publish a book of poetry. Wheatley's accomplishments helped demonstrate that African Americans were equally capable of intelligence and creativity. From its outset, the branch served as a much-needed gathering place for African-American women. In 1919 St. Louis Star and Times article noted that the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA had 900 members. At this time, members could attend a housekeeping school that taught domestic skills. They also had access to a gymnasium, swimming pool, and skating rink. The YWCA also helped unemployed women find work. Eva Bowles, the YWCA National Secretary in 1919, commented that "St. Louis leads in the work" provided by the YWCA. The Wheatley YWCA changed locations a number of times, moving to the Metropolitan Mount Zion AME Church and Holy Communion Church before finding a more permanent home at 2709 Locust Street from 1941 until 1994. On Locust Street, the YWCA served many women from the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood. Mill Creek Valley was a majority African-American neighborhood in St. Louis City, home to many institutions run by and for African Americans. In addition to its education and recreation offerings, the YWCA also provided temporary housing and raised money for scholarship funds. These services greatly impacted the lives of women connected to the YWCA. Irene Wright, a student at Washington University in the 1940s, was unable to find on-campus housing due to segregation rules. Although she had to commute to campus, she was able to live at the Wheatley YWCA while going to school. In 1948, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch advertised an "Exhibit of Girls' Hobbies" at the Wheatley YWCA, the proceeds from which would help fund a scholarship for African American girls attending a YWCA camp near Troy, MO. The Wheatley YWCA moved once again to its current location on September 10, 1994. It is now housed at 3820 West Pine Avenue on the campus of St. Louis University. The Wheatley YWCA continues to work towards its goal of empowering women and eliminating racism. Although the branch itself is no longer located at its Locust Street home of 30 years, the YWCA and other supporters raised funds to restore the site in 2004. Now called the Phyllis Wheatley Heritage Center, the Locust Street site now holds YWCA programs, lecture series, and is available for event rentals.

Originally named the Chapman Branch, the YWCA opened this location in 1911 to serve African American women and girls in the St. Louis area. This was the fifth YWCA branch opened for this purpose in the United States. The branch was renamed for Phyllis Wheatley, the first published African American poet, in April 1913. It served as a gathering place for fellowship, education, recreation, and temporary housing. For most of its existence, the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA had a home in Mill Creek Valley, a majority African American neighborhood in St. Louis city. It is now located on the campus of St. Louis University.

Phyllis Wheatley YWCA

On February 23, 1887 a group of women from the Women’s Christian Temperance Association resolved to form an association to address the plight of Black orphans in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. Investigations revealed that Black orphans were typically relegated to poorhouses and often were forced to work for a living from an early age. Although the group enjoyed the sponsorship of the Christian Temperance Union, its decision to establish the city’s first home for Black orphans necessitated a separate incorporation.  In 1888, the St. Louis Colored Orphans Home was founded with Mrs. Sarah Newton Cohran serving as the first president. Mrs. Cohran, now remarried to a Baptist minister, was the widow of Charles Newton, one of the first Black school administrators in St. Louis. According to the official history of the Annie Malone Children’s Home, Mrs. Cohran used her influence with the president of Boatmen’s Bank to transfer the ownership of the Negro Civil War Veterans Home to the new St. Louis Colored Orphan’s Home. The Home remained in this location until 1901, when a house at 4316 Natural Bridge was purchased with the help of private investors. By 1919, however, urban life had surrounded the house, which came to be condemned by the city. At this time, the Home was beginning to experience financial difficulties, but the entrepreneurial success of one woman would help to bring new life to the Home.  Born in 1869 in Metropolis, Illinois, Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone began a cosmetics business for Black women out of a small house in Lovejoy, Illinois in 1900. Early success prompted Malone to move to St. Louis in 1902 to the Mill Creek Valley area, an early alighting place for new Black arrivals into the city with its own “Negro Business District”. Malone’s decision in 1918 to move her cosmetics company to the area of St. Louis known as the Ville was a calculated move to take advantage of the growth of a middle-class Black enclave in north St. Louis. After funding the construction of a building for her Poor College, a place where Black women could take beauty and cosmetics classes, Malone turned her attention to the civic concerns in her new neighborhood.   The plight of the St. Louis Colored Orphans Home attracted Malone’s attention, and in 1919she became the President of the Board, a position she would hold until 1943. Malone, on her way to one of the few self-made women millionaires in the history of St. Louis, donated $10,000 toward the purchase of the land where the current Annie Malone Children and Family Services facility is located. In 1946, the Home changed its name to honor and show gratitude to Malone for her years of service and support. The Home no longer holds records from this historic period, but it is clear from oral histories and newspapers that the significance of the institution goes beyond the number of children it served. The Annie Malone Children’s Home was a source of pride and a rallying point for the local Black community.

The current Annie Malone Children and Family Services, formally known as the St. Louis Colored Orphans Home, is significant as it pertains to varying aspects of Black history. The institution has played an important role for the African American population of St. Louis within and beyond the historically Black neighborhood where the Home is located, known as the Ville. Not only was the Home designed by famed St. Louis architect William Butts Ittner, but the woman whose name is now on the building, Annie M. Malone, was the first African American woman to achieve the status of being a millionaire. 

St. Louis Black Heritage Trail

A voice from a victim of the East St. Louis Race Riot: July 2, 1917

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information